Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Lena Diaz concludes her sexy, suspenseful EXIT Inc. series as an FBI agent teams up with a beautiful assassin to uncover a deadly government conspiracy...

After a tragic mistake nearly destroyed his life, Special Agent Kade Quinn will do whatever it takes to save his career. His latest mission? Track and capture the remaining EXIT operatives to determine if they’re still a threat. But his next target—a stunning female assassin—is both elusive and dangerously appealing.

Bailey Stark has outsmarted the FBI so far, but she’s tired of running. Tired of watching her friends ambushed by government agents in tactical gear and never seen again. She suspects they aren’t being evaluated—they’re being exterminated—and she’s determined to convince Agent Quinn his mission is a lie before it’s too late. Bailey doesn’t want to rely on him. She definitely shouldn’t desire him. But she knows teaming up with the skilled, sexy agent may be her only hope.

Kade doesn’t want to believe Bailey’s claims, but he promises to keep her safe. Trusting one another is difficult. Fighting their attraction is harder. And as they uncover the disturbing truth behind his mission . . . staying alive will be nearly impossible.

Excerpt

Friday, 11:55 p.m.

It was a perfect night to catch a killer. A warm breeze blew out
of the south at about six miles per hour. Rain-heavy clouds covered the
half-moon, plunging the cliff where Special Agent Kade Quinn stood into
darkness. He was betting on the old cliché, third time’s a charm. And also
betting on the numbers—that his six, shiny new special agents could take down
one highly skilled, remarkably cunning, experienced assassin.

Not the kind of odds to go to Vegas over. But he had to work
with what he had. If things went as planned, Bailey Stark would soon be in
custody like the dozens of other EXIT Inc. Enforcers that his team had managed
to capture. The now-defunct company could never again fool the public into
believing that all it did was offer vacation packages, so-called “EXtreme
International Tours.” The clandestine organization’s true legacy as a corrupt
front for government-sanctioned murder would end with the capture of the last
few Enforcers. By the time his mission was over, every last one functioning
members of society.

And innocents like Abby would never again become the victims of
killers like Bailey.

Between the nightmare of his wife’s death and the near-constant
ache in his ruined left leg, Kade had his own, very personal, debt with EXIT.
And he planned on collecting. He scanned the tree line. Past the red oak and
Ponderosa pines, the Colorado Rockies squatted like dark sentinels watching
over tonight’s operation. Below him, in the middle of a wide, nearly treeless
valley, was ground zero, the two-story cottage that Bailey believed would be
her sanctuary. Instead, it would become her last stand. A quarter-mile-long
driveway connected a two-lane highway to this remote property. At close
to midnight and an hour’s drive from Boulder, the road was essentially
deserted. Kade couldn’t have asked for a better place to launch an ambush. And
if his intel was correct, Bailey should arrive within the next half hour.

Only a few minutes later the two-way radio on his belt crackled
to life. “Big Bear to Lone Wolf. Come in.”

“You’re ruining my fun, boss.” He shook his head but played
along. He had to pick his battles. “Lone Wolf to Big Bear. What’s the sitrep?”

“Much better.” A chuckle sounded through the radio. “A beat-up,
dark blue Camaro just turned off the highway. One occupant. Looks to be our
target. She’s heading toward the cottage.”

“Use the SUV to block the road behind her. If she gets spooked,
I don’t want her doing a one-eighty and making it to the highway.”

“Affirmative. Big Bear out.”

Kade clicked off the mic and belatedly wished he’d downed a
handful of antacids before driving out here. Being assigned these eager, raw
newbies had to be his penance for his breakdown after the accident. They were
also the reason he was here in person rather than monitoring the mission
remotely per the usual protocol. Tonight’s target had already tricked his team
and gotten away—twice. Kade was here to make sure that didn’t happen again.

“Cord,” he said through the two-way. “Sitrep.”

“You mean you aren’t going to call me Little Bear?”

“Do you want me to?” He was half-afraid of the answer.

“Hell no. I’m not in junior high.”

“You guys know I can hear you, right?” Nichols chimed in.

“Sitrep,” Kade growled.

“She just passed my ten o’clock,” Cord announced. “Dom
should have her in his sights in a few seconds.”

“Already do,” Dominic confirmed. “The car is pulling up to the
house. We’re all set.”

“Radio silence in three, two, one.” Kade clicked off the
transmitter.

They couldn’t risk the sound of static or a mistimed
transmission alerting their target. Or at least, that was the official reason
for breaking communications. Unofficially, he needed a few moments of silence
to get his impatience under control. What had happened to the bureau’s
standards? Big Bear, Little Bear? Hell, two of his agents—Dom and Jack—had
tattoos. Since when had the FBI allowed tats? Quantico was going soft.

He looked through the binoculars. Instead of driving into the
attached garage as expected, Bailey did a three-point turn and parked the
Camaro pointing down the driveway. Was she suspicious? Had she purposely
positioned her vehicle for a quick getaway? His hands tightened around the
binoculars. The driver’s door opened. A petite woman in dark-colored shorts and
a white T-shirt emerged. A pistol was holstered at her waist and her
shoulder-length, curly red hair reflected like flames in the soft glow of the
porch light. Even at this distance she had the kinds of curves that made men
pay attention—including Kade, much to his chagrin.

He had more reason than most to despise Enforcers, and yet his
breath caught every time he looked at one of her photographs in the case file.
He couldn’t imagine the effect she’d have on him if he ever got within a few
feet of her in person. It was bad enough that his pulse quickened whenever
those deep green eyes gazed back at him from her pictures. But what he hated
the most was the odd feeling of kinship he felt toward her, a tug of empathy
when he saw the shadows in her eyes, the same shadows he saw every time he
looked in a mirror. He couldn’t help wondering what had happened to harden her
and make her look so lost, so sad, so incredibly . . . alone.

Guest Feature for Blog Tour – Lena Diaz

EXIT Inc. – What the Heck is it?

Just what is “EXIT”? The simple answer is that
it’s an acronym that stands for “EXtreme International Tours”. EXIT Inc. is a
company that matches tour guides and vacation packages with people who want
extreme, fun, and dangerous outdoor experiences all over the world. This can
range from riding fiver rapids and ziplining across deep canyons to climbing
Mount Everest or some other equally exciting but dangerous endeavor. All under
the protection of an experienced and capable guide. But is that really what
EXIT is about?

Of course not.

The tour company part of EXIT Inc. is just a
front, a cover for its real mission as a clandestine government organization.
Many of the tour guides at EXIT are really agents, called Enforcers, who take
on the dirty jobs that other alphabet agencies can’t, or won’t,
tackle—including assassinations. The Enforcers take out the bad guys before the
bad guys can hurt more people.

Or, at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be
about.

What the heroes in the EXIT books quickly
discover is that there is far more to EXIT than even they knew. There’s a conspiracy,
that may go all the way to the top. Enforcers are being tricked, used for
someone’s personal gain. As a result, some of the people being “taken out” by
Enforcers may not be bad guys after all.

Each of the EXIT novels (there are three in all,
with FINAL EXIT being the last) focuses on a different Enforcer, and a dilemma
each of them has to resolve. Meanwhile, the series itself has an overarching
thread through all of the books, showing what happens to EXIT Inc. as its
Enforcers begin to realize they are being used. FINAL EXIT is the explosive
conclusion when readers finally find out what happens to the company and those
who are behind it.

Yes, the books are most enjoyable when read in
order as a series. However, each one is also stand-alone, following a specific
problem that the hero and heroine have to tackle together while they fall in
love. It’s always my goal to make each of my books a fully satisfying read
regardless of whether you’ve read any of the others in the series.

The first two books, EXIT Strategy and No EXIT, feature
heroes who are Enforcers. In FINAL EXIT, it’s the heroine who’s the Enforcer.
How cool is that? I loved writing a super-strong female character who was
smart, fierce, and willing to fight to the death for the people she cared
about. And who better to pair her with as the love interest than a by-the-book
FBI agent who was her polar opposite? Bailey and Kade were a super-fun couple
to write. Forced to work together against EXIT, they have to overcome their mutual
distrust of each other in order to survive. And along the way, of course (after
all, it is a romance), they fall in love. And they live
happily ever after!

Originally from Kentucky, romantic suspense author Lena Diaz also lived in California and Louisiana before settling in Northeast Florida with her husband, two children, and a Shetland Sheepdog named Sparky. A Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® finalist, she's won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense and has been a finalist for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award. She loves to watch action movies, garden, and hike in the beautiful Tennessee Smoky Mountains.